Die Zombie, Die!

Thousands of them swarmed around the jeep. Their craving for flesh attracted them to the only survivor in the area. The survivor started loading the gatling gun that was mounted on the jeep, since it was military issue. He was fumbling with the ammunition belt, trying to get it into the weapon. He finally got it in and aimed it at the zombies. Pulling the trigger, he unloaded hundreds of shots yelling out "die zombies, die!". One of the zombies managed to avoid the gunfire and crawled onto the jeep, right in front of the gun. The bullets tore through its body, getting blood, bones and body parts all over the gun and jamming it. Frustrated, he dropped the handles to the weapon and went for his rifle, which wasn’t there. He looked around, but couldn’t find it. The zombies started climbing up onto the jeep and overpowering the survivor. His screams could be heard from miles away.

The Lottery Response

In the story The Lottery, by Shirley Jackson,  the lottery is thought to be a good thing, but it turns out to be the complete opposite. The story has a few good examples of irony.

One example of irony is when people were all excited about the lottery. All the kids were playing and collecting rocks while they waited for the lottery. Everyone was saying that the lottery was such a good thing and that they should never get rid of it.

Another example was when ms Hutchinson was saying "its not fair!" and was then chosen to be killed. She also arrived late to the lottery. She acted excited and happy at the beginning because she thought she wasn’t going to be chosen.

Yin Yang

Yin Yang is the circle symbol with one side white with a black dot in it and the other side black with a white dot in it. It was created in China and used as an "ultimate diagram".  While it is a simple symbol, it has a lot of meaning

The black side with the white dot in it is Yin and Yang is the white side with the black dot. Yin represents slow, soft, diffuse, yielding and femininity while Yang means focused, aggressive, fast, and solid. They are supposed to be opposites, but the dot with the opposite color on each side means that there are similarities in differences.

While the two sides have many different meanings, they are mainly meant to represent dark and light. Dark and light also meant good and evil. The symbol was used to describe how  differences have similarities and that darkness can not exist without light and light cant exist without darkness.

The old yin yang symbol has been seen by many people because of its age. Although commonly seen in places everywhere, some people don’t know its actual meaning.

Crack in the Mirror

I am an imperfection. No one likes to see me.  I disorient their reflection when they look at the mirror, causing them to look weird. They try to fix the mirror and get rid of me, but no one cant get rid of me, for I am part of the mirror. If I leave, the mirror leaves to.
 

Cloning Research Paper

Cloning

Alex Vargo

Hour 4

Authors note: This is a research paper on the cloning process, advantages and disadvantages of cloning, and uses for cloning.

What if you could clone an exact copy of animal? Scientists are capable of doing that today. It is difficult process to clone, but use a common form of cloning called reproductive cloning which has good uses. Cloning does have it advantages, but it also has some disadvantages as well. Although cloning is a somewhat new technology, many scientists still study and test it. 

To start, reproductive cloning is a common form of cloning. “Scientists transfer the nucleus from an adult cell to an egg that had it its nucleus removed. The egg has to then be treated with chemicals or an electric current to stimulate cell division. Once the cloned embryo reaches a suitable stage, it is transferred to a uterus to develop until birth” (Cloning). This type of cloning creates animals that have the same DNA as another animal (Cloning).

Secondly, while many scientists choose to study further into it, cloning has its advantages and disadvantages. “Scientists hope that one day therapeutic cloning can be used to generate tissues and organs for transplants”  (Cloning). Although this would be very useful, “reproductive cloning is expensive and highly inefficient”  (Cloning). “More than 90% of cloning attempts fail to produce viable offspring” (Cloning). Cloned animals tend to have more compromised immune function and higher rates of infection, tumor growth, and other disorders and have been known to die mysteriously (Cloning).

Lastly, cloning technology has many other uses. Reproductive cloning can be used to develop animals with special qualities. “For example, drug-producing animals or animals that have been genetically altered to serve as models for studying human disease could be mass produced” (Cloning). Reproductive cloning also could be used to repopulate endangered animals or animals that are difficult to breed.

In conclusion, cloning is done all over the world today, and has caused new discoveries. Although having disadvantages, reproductive cloning is a common form of cloning. Scientists continue to study and test cloning, even though it is a somewhat new technology.

Bibliography

"Cloning." ThinkQuest. 19 April 2012 <http://library.thinkquest.org/J0112600/cloning.htm#>.

"Cloning." 1 July 2011. National Human Genome Research Institute. 20 April 2012 <http://www.genome.gov/25020028>.

"Cloning Fact Sheet." 11 May 2009. Human Genome Project Information. 17 April 2012 <http://www.ornl.gov/sci/techresources/Human_Genome/elsi/cloning.shtml>.

World War Z Retelling

When a new virus that turns people into the walking dead is found, the world is taken by surprise. Suddenly everyone was running for their lives from this infection, and many were not smart enough to survive it. Only the bravest, toughest, and smartest people were able to survive "World War Z".

The Secret Crusade Character Development

What if you were sent on a mission and you made one mistake which made you lost all the respect from the people around you? In the story The Secret Crusade, by Oliver Bowden, the main character Altair changes the lives of many people around him.

First,  Altair was treated as if he was inferior to his fellow assassins because of a careless mistake he made, which had caused him to say "That he, the great Altair, had brought dishonor upon himself and the Order." His mistake had caused him to have to go through the long and hard process of reclaiming his honor and becoming the master assassin he once was.

Although he was able to reclaim his honor, others suffered because if his mistake. One of his trusted friends had been killed while another had been severely hurt and had o have his arm amputated. Some of his fellow assassins never trusted him again because of his careless mistake.

Altair had to go through a lot to get his honor back. He had made almost everyone dislike him, and then most of them liked him again, which shows how much of an effect he is on others lives.